EAST CORK HERITAGE TRAIL
 
Major Heritage and Cultural Sites   ^^back to top
 

1. COBH TOWN: The historical chronicle of emigration, famine and sea tragedy is told at the Cobh Heritage Centre www.cobhheritage.com and on the Titanic Trail www.titanic-trail.com. Overlooking the town and containing a 42 bell carillon, is St. Colman’s Cathedral www.iol.ie/~gercasey/ , built between 1886 & 1919. Noteworthy buildings include the Crescent, the Library, the Courthouse and the Post Office, which was the White Star Line office. Also worth a visit is the Old Yacht Club, the site of the oldest yacht club in the world and now home to the Sirius Arts Centre. There are memorials in the town to the ill fated Titanic and a peace memorial to the sinking of the Lusitania, whose victims are buried nearby in the Old Church Cemetery. This cemetery also contains the grave of Cobh’s legendary boxer, Jack Doyle “The Gorgeous Gael”, the Rev. Charles Wolfe and Napoleon’s personal physician, Dr. Verling.
 
2. FOTA ISLAND: Fota House www.fotahouse.com is Ireland's finest example of Regency period architecture. It is surrounded by superb gardens and a world-renowned arboretum.
 
3. BARRYSCOURT CASTLE: www.heritageireland.ie/ Barryscourt Castle was the seat of the Barry family from the 12th to the 17th centuries. The present Castle is a fine example of a 15th century tower house.
 
4. MIDLETON: Founded by Cistercian monks in the 12th century, Midleton derives its name from ‘Mainistir na Corann’ meaning ‘The Abbey of the Choir’. Legend says that it was in Ireland that whiskey was invented and Midleton claims the largest pot still in the world at the Old Midleton Distillery www.whiskeytours.ie . Other historical sites include the Market House, now the library and the Courthouse, a 19th c. classical building. Midleton College was established in 1696 by Lady Elizabeth Orkney, mistress of William of Orange, while St. John the Baptist’s Church was erected in 1825 on the site of the old Abbey. The Rose’s Coach Inn is a 19th c. commercial building designed by Pugin and intended as a pilot scheme for the Main Street.
 
5. CLOYNE: Historical buildings include St Colman’s Cathedral, founded in the 13th c. on the site of a 6th c. monastic settlement. Also of interest is one of only two 11th c. Round Towers remaining in Cork, originally 92 feet in height. The village holds a monument to hurling legend, Christy Ring. Cloyne was the birthplace to poet and balladeer, William Kennealy. Cloyne was also home to Bishop Berkeley, whom the Californian University was named after, and Bishop Brinkley, the first Astronomer Royal for Ireland.
 

6. YOUGHAL: Youghal comes from a Gaelic word meaning ‘yew wood’. Historic gems thrive in the town: Dating from the 1200’s is St. Mary’s Collegiate Church that supports a roof of Irish oak beams 900 years old and is also the site of the Boyle Family Tomb (Richard Boyle, the 1st Earl of Cork was the richest man in Great Britain and his son Robert the father of modern chemistry, creator of ‘Boyle’s law’) The remains of St. John’s Priory is from the same period while nearby is The College, referred to as the ‘University of the City of Youghal’ by Pope Innocent VIII in 1492.

Youghal has the best preserved 13th c. Town Walls in Ireland and Tynte’s Castle is a rare urban tower house from the same period. Myrtle Grove was the medieval residence of Sir Walter Raleigh and the Red House is a fine 18th c. town house. The Water Gate is a medieval arch and the Clock Gate dates back to 1777 on the site of an original town gate. The Alms Houses were built in 1610 for old soldiers, while Shalom House, provided sheltered housing. Some two centuries later, the19th c. lighthouse was built on the site of St. Anne’s tower, a 12th c. lighthouse, manned by nuns.
 

Sites of Historical Importance   ^^back to top

 
1. Riverstown House: Early 18th c. country house, incorporating important plasterwork by the Francini brothers.
 
2. Castlemartyr: An estate village, established in the 17th c. by Richard Boyle, the “Great” Earl of Cork. The Charter was granted by Charles II (The Mace of the Royal Borough of Castlemartyr is in the Cork Public Museum). The village contains a 15th c. castle keep, St. Anne’s Church (1731), the early 18th c. country house built by Henry Boyle, speaker of the Irish House of Commons and 1st Earl of Shannon. (More recently a Carmelite College and currently being developed as a holiday resort.) Located in the woods is Ballyoughterra, a large ruined medieval church and graveyard containing 16th c. tomb of the Fitzgerald family and the tomb of Richard Morrison, architect of Fota House. http://homepage.eircom.net/
 
3. Shanagarry: Late medieval tower house of the De la Poer family unsuccessfully defended by the Earl of Desmond against Queen Elizabeth’s troops. Held by the Irish in 1641, but captured by Cromwell and dismantled, Shanagarry was home to William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania State in the US.
 
Sites of Historical Interest   ^^back to top
 

1. Dunkathal House: 18th c. country house
 
2. Belvelly Castle & Martello Tower: 15th c. tower house and early 19th c. Martello tower.
 
3. Rossleague: An early 19th c. Martello tower.
 
4. Ballymore: Containing a late medieval ruined church and early 19th c. Catholic Church
 
5. Spit Bank: A 19th c. lighthouse designed and built by a blind man, Alexander Mitchell.
 
6. Spike Island: Site of a 7th c. monastery and a Cromwellian prison in the 1650’s. The building of Fort Westmoreland commenced in 1793, it is now called Fort Mitchell after the poet and patriot John Mitchell who was held here in 1848. Republican prisoners were also held here between 1919 & 1921.
 
7. Haulbowlin Island: Naval dockyard
 
8. Fort Camden:
9. Fort Carlisle:
 
10. Roches Point: 19th c. lighthouse on the site of an earlier tower.
 
11. Trabolgan: Former estate of the Lords of Fermoy
 
12. Rostellan: The bridge incorporates a rare example of a complex 18th c. milestone. There is also an 18th c. folly tower, built by Lord Inchiquin in honour of the actress Sarah Siddons.
 
13. Castlemary: A bronze age Wedge tomb and a ruined 18th c. country house, incorporating a medieval tower, can be found here.
 
14. Ballinacurra: The birthplace of Antarctic explorer Edward Bransfield (1783) Ballinacurra also has an early medieval church, graveyard and 18th c. malt house.
 
15. Coppingerstown: A 15th c. tower house and the remains of bawn.
 
16. Templecurraheen: A late medieval ruined church and graveyard containing the burial place of P N Fitzgerald, Fenian and founder member of the GAA
 
17. Dungourney: Burial place of 18th c. Gaelic poet Eamon de Bhal
 
18. Mogeely: Holds a late medieval church & graveyard.
19. Ballymaloe: A 15th c. tower house of the Fitzgerald family (now a famous guesthouse)
 
20. Ballycotton: A famous 19th c. lighthouse There were many ship wrecks off this coastline, the most notable being the S.S. Sirius(1847), the first passenger steamship to cross the Atlantic.
 
21.Garryvoe: A 15th c. tower house and late medieval church and graveyard can be found here.
 
22. Kilcredan: The ruined medieval church contains the 17th c. tomb of Sir Robert Tynt and his two wives, one the widow of Edmund Spencer.
 
23. Ballymacoda: The birthplace of Gaelic poet Padraig MacGearailt. The 19th c. graveyard is the burial place the Fenian, Peter O’Neill, and of Fr. Peter O’Neill, the priest who was flogged in Youghal in 1798.
 
24. Ightermurragh: Fortified house, built in 1641.
 
25. Inchiquin: A 13th c. castle keep, built by the Fitzgerald family and home of the “old” Countess of Desmond who died in 1604 aged 140.
 
26. Killeagh: Site of a 7th c. nunnery.
 
27. Kilnatoora: A ruined 15th C. tower house, owned for a time by Sir Walter Raleigh.
 
28. Molana Abbey: Situated on the Blackwater River close to Youghal, the abbey was the site of philosophic, scientific and astronomic research. Here, one of the earliest collections of canon law was written.